Honey Health

Using Honey in Home Remedies, Baking, and Skin Care

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                                    by Karyn Sweet

I've included some recipes from www.goldenblossomhoney.com to help get you started cooking with honey today:

Trail Mix Bars

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds
 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°

Lightly grease a 9x15 inch pan.

Combine the first four ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Add vanilla, butter, honey and brown sugar.  Beat with an electric mixer.  Batter will be very heavy.  Using a wooden spoon stir in remaining ingredients until well combined.

Press dough into prepared pan.  Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  Cool in pan 10 minutes.  Cut into bars and cool completely before removing them from pan.
 

Honey Lemon Yogurt Muffins

Ingredients:

1/4 cup honey
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons yogurt
1 egg
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon fresh grated lemon rind
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped walnuts
 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease muffin tin.  Melt butter and honey together.  Remove from  heat.  Beat together yogurt, egg, lemon juice, and lemon rind.  Add butter and honey mixture.  Beat well.  Sift dry ingredients into bowl.  Make well in center and add wet ingredients.  Stir just to combine.  Fold in walnuts.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake 25 minutes.

In addition to tasting good and keeping you healthy, honey can be used to keep you looking beautiful (or handsome) naturally.  Remember how useful honey is for treating skin problems?  Those same characteristics make honey a clear choice for inclusion in skin care products.  Honey can be added to homemade recipes for lip balms, facial scrubs and cleansers, skin moisturizers, hair shine spray, body bath, anti-wrinkle cream, hand soap bar, skin toner, acne treatment cream, body fragrance, and anti-stretch cream.  It can be particularly effective in treating acne.  Because of its antibacterial qualities, honey actually attacks the bacteria that causes acne while it also calms the inflammation.  The antioxidants found in honey help to feed new tissue and prevent scarring.  Honey may be dabbed directly onto blemishes and left for ten minutes before rinsing off with warm water.  Or mix three tablespoons of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon and apply paste to blemishes. 

Also, honey is a humectant; it attracts and retains moisture from the environment.  For this reason, it is useful for keeping the skin moist and soft.  Use honey in a cleansing scrub by mixing one tablespoon of honey with two tablespoons of finely ground almonds and ½ a teaspoon of lemon juice.  Rub gently onto face and then rinse with warm water.  To make a skin lotion combine one teaspoon of honey with one teaspoon of vegetable oil and 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice.  Rub on, leave for ten minutes, and rinse off with warm water.  Another suggestion is to simply add 1/4 cup of honey to your bath to soften the skin.  Using these remedies will put you in the company of historical beauties such as Cleopatra and Queen Anne of England.

Honey truly is a gift from Nature.  It helps to ease our physical sufferings and  brings nourishment and beauty to our bodies.  But keep in mind that it takes 556 worker bees and 2 million flowers to produce one pound of honey.  In fact, the average bee will only make 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.  And this is on a good day when the hive isn't dealing with pesticides, Colony Collapse Disorder, and lack of forage.  So when you enjoy that sweet taste on your tongue, please remember to send out a thank you to the honeybees.

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